You Frighten Me, Mr Jones
by Outsiders Obsessor
Summary: "You frighten me, Mr. Jones." At first, the sentence turns into a running gag between the two of them. Ezekiel, meanwhile, had taken it as a personal challenge just to see how many times he could hear the phrase in just a week, or just a day, or even just in one single hour. Written for Jenkins Day Two as part of the #librariansshipathon! Rated T for mentions of death and PTSD.


**You Frighten Me, Mr. Jones**

 **Disclaimer: As usual, all canon characters belong to TNT and any other respective owners. They haven't recently been given to me, unfortunately.** **L** **XD**

"You frighten me, Mr. Jones," are some of the most common words Jenkins directs to the mastermind Australian thief known as Ezekiel Jones.

The tone in which Jenkins uses when talking to Ezekiel varies depending on the caretaker's mood, or even the situation in which Ezekiel has inadvertently found himself in this time. Sometimes humor sneaks into Jenkins' voice, such as the time when the Knight of the Round Table caught Ezekiel attempting to take an entire box of doughnuts up to the movie theatre room of the Library. Other times, the emotions can be shocked, disappointed, joking, happy, concerned, or even straight up sarcastic. At first, the sentence turns into a running gag between the two of them. When Ezekiel, the other LITs, Eve, and Flynn all moved out to the Annex, Jenkins had originally began the phrase in question, he had wanted Ezekiel to learn from his mistakes and hopefully get to the point where he would not have to hear the same thing over and _over_ from Jenkins himself. Ezekiel, meanwhile, had taken at as a personal challenge just to see how many times he could hear the phrase in just a week, or just a day, or even just in one single hour.

 _Well, then. Challenge accepted, Mr. Jones._

The first time Jenkins uses the phrase is when Ezekiel attempts to use the Back Door to break into a bank vault that is housing not only millions of dollars in cash, but also a rather impressive stash of gold, silver, and a few diamonds from a particularly rich client and shareholder. Ezekiel is just about to jump through the Back Door into the bank vault kept under tight security even he can't hack when something grabs him by the hood of his solid black hoodie.

"What-?! Oi, let me go!" Ezekiel shouts, thrashing against Jenkins' large hand clamped down on his hoodie in order to keep the younger man from escaping through the Back Door.

"And where do we think we're going, Mr. Jones? Hmm?" Jenkins inquires, not letting go of Ezekiel even as the thief continues to squirm against Jenkins' grasp.

"Uh—Right. About that, Jenkins," Ezekiel trails off, dark brown eyes nervously scanning the room as he knows he has been caught fair and square in the act.

"Oh, don't play that act with me. You were going to go to this closed bank in Heaven knows where to take all the cash you could fit in this stereotypical hoodie of yours," Jenkins speaks for the young thief and Librarian in Training.

"Well, I—Yeah. You caught me, Jenkins," Ezekiel admits, stopping his struggle as he realizes his denial is useless since Jenkins has caught him red-handed in his scheme. "And I wasn't just going to fence what I could fit in my hoodie. I have a duffel bag for a reason, mate," the thief smirks, dropping down from Jenkins' grasp as the caretaker closes the Back Door and reprograms it to where Flynn is currently on a mission to try and stop a team of ninjas from stealing Apollo's lyre.

What ninjas would want with Apollo's lyre, no one in the Library is quite sure. But, you know, ninjas never rest, and so Flynn had to get to the root of the problem immediately.

Jenkins takes a breath before looking the youngest Librarian in Training in the eyes and speaking the phrase for the first time.

"You frighten me, Mr. Jones," he says in complete disappointment, and a tad bit of concern slips through his voice as well.

After all, the Library and the Annex were supposed to be places of refuge where Librarians and Guardians could come to get away from people like Ezekiel. And yet, here Ezekiel Jones, master thief, stands wanting to go and rob one of the world's richest banks just for fun. Jenkins starts to firmly believe that he will never understand the way Ezekiel Jones' brain works. Frankly, he is certain that he does not want to learn how the young thief's mind is wired, nor does he ever want to know how many schemes Ezekiel may be planning in his own mind when no one is around to hear him plan out the details.

"Colonel, a word?" Jenkins questions as he catches sight of Eve as she plans to go over a few new fighting techniques with Jacob in the workout room of the Annex.

"What's the problem, Jenkins? Dragons? Mummies? Oh, please tell me it's not another cult of zombies!" Eve begins to list all the possibilities she can think of before involuntarily shuddering at the last thought her mind came up with.

"Oh, no. Nothing of the sort, Colonel Baird," Jenkins assures, and Eve lets out a breath of relief as her blue eyes lose a bit of what the LITs and Flynn like to call her "battle face". "I just wanted to tell you that one of your charges seems intent on going into a bank vault by using the Back Door," the caretaker sighs, going over to his desk to get prepared to run a test on one of the artifacts Flynn brought back a little over a week ago.

Due to all of the questions and missions Eve and the LITs have been going on, Jenkins has simply not had the time to test the artifact as Flynn requested. Usually, Jenkins could have every test imaginable done on a single artifact within a matter of two or three hours, but at most a single day.

"Jones!" Eve practically roars as she pivots on her heels to go and give the thief and her youngest responsibility a stern talking to as well as a piece of her mind. "Thank you, Jenkins. I'll sort him out," she remarks with a sly smile, and Jenkins cannot help but chuckle softly.

"I have no doubts about that, Colonel," Jenkins smirks before he turns back to his work.

He wouldn't admit it, but Jenkins could see the challenge written on Ezekiel's face and behind the younger man's eyes clear as day. And, by the stars above, Jenkins was not going to lose the opportunity to call out everything that concerned him about Ezekiel Jones' behavior and habits.

The silent contest between Jenkins and Ezekiel continues a few months later when Ezekiel is mistaken for being the Arbiter for the Library when Dulaque tries to create a war between the dragons and all other magical races and species.

"You're not a Librarian! You're a thief!" Jenkins distinctly remembers yelling earlier in the day, and honestly, he hadn't meant for it to get that far.

Yes, he often had his doubts about young Ezekiel Jones, but he has seen the work the youngest member of the Library has done to help the team narrowly avoid scrapes or get a highly coveted and protected magical item out of the wrong hands. And yet, the two exclamations had left Jenkins' mouth as easy as a breath, and he couldn't take them back. Later on in the day, Ezekiel began to argue with him that the caretaker had never had to choose in his life, and that got Jenkins riled up more than the thought of a thief working in the most important Library in the world. After giving his whole speech about all the times that he had chosen in his life with no good coming from it, Jenkins closed the trunk to his car, preparing to leave since it was obvious that even if the world wasn't destroyed by dragons that the Librarians no longer wanted or needed him at the Annex to help keep them all from drowning in a world of magic that their brains couldn't even begin to comprehend as much as his did from growing up in a world filled with magic when Camelot was at its peak. That wasn't to say that the genius Librarians and their intelligent Guardian could not comprehend the complexities of magic, but they were not as enlightened about all the world's magic, and Galahad was, in his own right, exposed to most of the world's magic during his one thousand and some odd years of life.

"Nothing-Nothing ever changes," Jenkins tells Ezekiel at the end of their conversation about how Jenkins has lived through eras with little hope and lots of blood.

The blood had bathed his friends and enemies alike, showing no mercy for Galahad's allies and showing no end in sight for the string of Galahad's enemies. Blood had covered Galahad's hands for so long that he found it incredibly difficult to keep a pure soul and incorruptible heart when the world around him grew constantly darker due to wars fought out of spite and hatred for other nations, people, or beliefs. The world was turning darker, and even the light of Jenkins/Galahad's heart could not reverse the effects of war on the ever-changing world that he has come to know.

"You did," Ezekiel adds in his final words to the caretaker before he walks away back into the Annex to continue being the Arbiter for the conclave he apparently called.

Those two words hit Jenkins harder than a sword to the heart would, and he finds himself speechless for what seems like the first time in over four hundred years. Had he really changed along with the rapidly modernizing world? It was a question worth pondering as he prepared to leave the Annex.

When Ezekiel truly begins to flounder as Arbiter, almost getting the Library shut down for good, Jenkins steps it to save the younger man from making a crucial mistake which would have ended the world as everyone knew it. Ezekiel flashes him a grateful look, and then he dutifully goes to track down the minutes from the last conclave per Jenkins' orders. The young thief does not miss the smirk on Jenkins' face that the caretaker directs towards Dulaque as the two older men stare each other down. The rest of the afternoon is practically a blur until Flynn, Eve, Jacob, and Cassandra return to the Annex. When they do return, however, Ezekiel gets to put his pickpocketing skills to the test in order to swipe the Apple of Discord from Flynn's pocket when the Head Librarian isn't paying attention. Hopefully, this display of his skills and professional attitude regarding his thief handiwork would get Jenkins off of his back a bit more and allow the Knight of the Round Table to see just how necessary and important his abilities truly are.

"You're immune?!" Jacob practically yells, outraged by the fact that no amount of magic they seem to encounter ever seems to effect Ezekiel Jones and his giant ego.

"You're already the worst version of yourself," Eve breathes, not believing that this is possible.

Ezekiel seems to be a good kid underneath all his rough exterior he shows when he is stealing something for personal pleasure or even talking about the heists he can only dream of pulling off. One day, Eve is going to get to the bottom of why Ezekiel acts the way he does and what made he have to start stealing in the first place.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Ezekiel scoffs and a smirk appears on his face in the process.

He _could_ be much worse if he wanted to, key words being _if he wanted to._ Ezekiel Jones is the kind of person who does not change his own thoughts and actions just while holding a stupid apple that apparently had the powers to show people the worst versions of himself or herself. Throughout all of this, Jenkins has remained silent, and Eve must have asked him a question that Ezekiel didn't hear, because the next sentence Ezekiel's ears register is the following.

"I was just thinking how appreciative I am that we have both a Librarian _and_ a thief," Jenkins states, his eyes landing on Ezekiel, and said Librarian and thief's ears perk up at noting the hint of pride shining through Jenkins' voice.

Ezekiel doesn't respond to Jenkins until the conclave is over and the rest of the Library family is dispersed throughout the Annex doing their own special tasks.

"Jenkins!" Ezekiel calls, sliding down the stair-rail before landing on his sneakered feet in front of the slightly startled caretaker. "Thank you, for what you said earlier," he beams, glad that he was able to get a heartfelt compliment from one of the world's toughest people to please.

"Yes, well—You earned it, Mr. Jones," Jenkins assures, clearing his throat before continuing his thought process. "But, if you really are the worst version of yourself, than you really do frighten me, Mr. Jones," he barely manages to tell the young thief with a straight face as he attempts to hide the humor in his voice.

"Aw, you're just saying that, Jenkins!" Ezekiel jokes, eyes shining as he starts to head for the Annex kitchen where he can make himself a bag of extra buttered popcorn.

"No, really. In fact, you remind me of a young lad I used to know in Camelot," Jenkins admits, thinking of the parallels between Mordred and Ezekiel that he could draw up in his mind.

Not realizing what he is doing, Jenkins reaches one hand out and ruffles Ezekiel's jet black hair in a similar way that the Knight of the Round Table used to do when Mordred was a small boy and needed encouragement or emotional support.

"Jenkins?" Ezekiel calls out, his voice containing a questioning tone.

"Yes?" comes Jenkins response as he turns around to look Ezekiel in the eyes as is typical for the caretaker to do whenever someone is talking to him.

He had grown up the son of a princess, after all.

"If you ever do that again, the two of us will be back to square one."

Jenkins can't help but chuckle to himself at the thief's statement, and he realizes that Ezekiel Jones is not really as bad as he had once thought. In addition, Jenkins is quite pleased with the progress he has made with accepting Ezekiel for who he is, thieving tendencies and all.

The third time Jenkins says the particular phrase, humor and laughter is evident in his voice as he looks at Ezekiel Jones currently slumped over on the ground unable to get up.

"You frighten me, Mr. Jones," Jenkins teases in that same joking voice he saves for when he is making witty remarks against the Librarians or their Guardian.

He offers a hand to help the youngest member of his new-found family off the ground as Ezekiel continues to struggle to stand up on his own with such a heavy weight on his back. "You could have nearly taken someone's eye out with the way you were navigating this jet pack," the caretaker lightly scolds, unhooking the device from Ezekiel's back, and the young thief tries to pop his shoulder where he fell when the jetpack crashed.

"Yeah, well, the stupid thing should come with directions," Ezekiel puts in his own two-cents, practically having a staring contest with the offending machine. "I turned the knob to the right and the jet pack decides it wants to fly left. Typical malfunctioning machinery there," he further explains the situation to Jenkins, not wanting the caretaker to think that he wasn't capable of flying a normal jetpack if he could drive a normal car of any kind.

"Oh, I see you found the jetpack!" Flynn excitedly remarks as he comes into the main part of the Annex, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead after his training session with Excalibur. "You took to it a lot better than I did, Jones! Judson told me that I had the fastest record for finding the jetpack in only three hours instead of four… And I almost broke the Holy Grail. All in my first day," Flynn recounts his first day of being the Librarian about twelve years ago, give or take a little bit of time either way.

It got too complicated to keep track of most exact dates with all the time loops, time changes, and being trapped in William Shakespeare's time, so all the Librarians, Eve, and Jenkins have learned to just approximate most dates, save for important ones with particular dates such as birthdays and anniversaries.

"Did you ever figure out how to fly it?" Ezekiel inquires, hope shining in his brown eyes as he takes the contraption back from Jenkins.

"I did… not. But, Eve is always going on about how I need activities to do with each of you while I am back at the Library," Flynn starts to comment, his dangerous idea look written all over his face. "Wanna take turns trying to figure out how it flies?" he asks like a little boy wanting to go and play with toy guns or other weapons down the street with the neighbors' kids.

"Would I! That sounds mega amazing!" Ezekiel says, all smiles as he straps the helmet back on his head and starts to get back into the jetpack's straps that hold onto his shoulders like a backpack.

"And I am just going to get rid of myself and any valuables in this room," Jenkins comments before he goes around and takes down any valuable artifacts that may be stored in the room. "Just try not to break anything," the Knight of the Round Table cautions, leaving the two troublemaking men alone with a severe feeling of anxiety and dread filling in his chest.

Mr. Carsen and Mr. Jones could be seemingly terrifying trying out artifacts or machines independently. But, together in the same room? Well, Jenkins just hopes he doesn't have to pull out more than one fire extinguisher like the time when Ezekiel thought he could use several Bunsen burners to heat up a pizza when the oven was broken for a few hours.

The fourth time Jenkins utters those same five words, they are filled with a sense of compassion, concern, and a bit of desperation. Ezekiel comes into the main Annex room screaming his head off, tears rolling down his eyes and what once were soft, dark brown eyes are now bloodshot and seem like Ezekiel couldn't close them if his entire life depended on it.

"You frighten me, Mr. Jones," Jenkins remarks, wanting to lighten up the younger man's mood as Ezekiel sniffs and wipes his nose with one sleeve of his long-sleeved Batman pajamas. "What is disturbing you so that you haven't had a good night's sleep in over a week?" Jenkins quietly questions, his voice sounding like the tone people use when talking to a spooked animal.

Ezekiel sighs in a shuddering breath, his whole body shaking as he tries his best not to break down crying again in front of Jenkins.

"I can't—I can't talk—" Ezekiel starts to say, the tears becoming thick in his throat and it makes it hard for him to get even a single word out.

"Here, drink this," Jenkins calmly instructs, pushing a cup of jasmine tea mixed with chamomile towards the young thief. "And then, we can talk when you are ready, Ezekiel."

Said thief in question takes the offered cup of tea and begins to take slow drinks from the cup as the warm liquid travels down his mouth and starts to make him feel warm and safe. Ezekiel begins to take shallow breaths just to get air in his lungs, but soon his breathing evens out with the more tea he drinks and the longer he just sits at the table across from Jenkins.

"I can't do it, Jenkins. I _can't watch them die anymore!"_ Ezekiel shouts, hitting his hands against the table before he lays his head down beside the tea cup as he curls his body into as small of a ball as he can muster. "They keep dying in my dreams. I see them all dying all over again. Stone gets killed by the rage people and gets pulled down while trying to save me! Eve always gets killed first while she tries to get me to the save point! And Cassandra… Cassandra never gets farther than the first save! I can't keep seeing them like that, Jenkins! _I CAN'T DO IT_!" he yells, his voice breaking as he thinks of all the terrible ways that he couldn't save his best friends and family from all of the ways that they were killed within the video game loop.

Jenkins remains silent for a little bit of time, trying on how to think of how he can help the trembling, suffering boy that obviously has some kind of PTSD from the traumatic experience that was the time loop at DARPA not too long ago.

"I understand, Ezekiel. The thoughts that plague you plague most soldiers. I, too, have felt such a pain from being in the wars in Camelot," Jenkins says as he tries to comfort his youngest charge. "And I know you don't feel like this will help you right now, but the nightmares will go away. Mine still come up some days, but I have lived centuries longer than you, Mr. Jones. If you _ever_ need someone to talk to, don't hesitate to come and talk to me. Even if it is at 3:10 in the morning like today," Jenkins adds in, rubbing one hand over Ezekiel's hair in a soothing fashion like their mothers used to do when both men were small boys under five years of age.

Ezekiel sniffs and leans into Jenkins' hand as he receives the comfort from the caretaker he used to think was so stone-hearted and didn't care about any of them.

"Thank you, Jenkins," Ezekiel says, his voice still thick with emotion. "For everything."

"You're welcome, Ezekiel. Just don't ever frighten me like that again, Mr. Jones."

 **Author's Note: And there is my Jenkins contribution for the second day of the shipathon week! For all of you who may have read my previous stories for the shipathon, I must apologize to you for not posting last week. I am in the middle of writing those stories now. I will try my hardest to get it up ASAP. Thanks for your understanding! Anyway, I may take some days of from the shipathon, such as when I had my next college visit out of state yesterday and today when I did not have my laptop or Wifi, but I will always try to catch back up. I did have this ready for yesterday, but I had no computer to post it on! Well, that's about all I have to say other than I hoped everyone enjoyed this one-shot and reviews are always appreciated! All right, that's all I have to say for now. Have a good morning, afternoon, or night!**


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